This is Bazball's biggest test, but these lads can bowl. It's a great opportunity for them to shine

MONTY PANESAR'S ADVICE TO SPINNERS

- MIKE WALTERS

TOSSED up, with a few more revs and a cunning dip, the ball brushed the pad before the Indian deity could smother the spin with his bat. 

Umpire Aleem Dar upheld the LBW appeal, Sachin Tendulkar became Monty Panesar’s first Test wicket and the England spinner’s celebratory lap of Nagpur almost broke the mile record.

The night before his debut 18 years ago, Panesar, now 41, had knocked on captain Freddie Flintoff’s hotel room door and presented him with reams of suggested field placings for each Indian batsman.

Now one of the most inexperienced spin attacks England have sent to the subcontinent will become skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum’s Bazball bodyguards.

Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley and – if they ever let him in the country – Shoaib Bashir went on tour with only 36 Test caps between them – Leach accounting for 35 of them.

But Panesar is confident they will prosper on surfaces that are a dream for spin.